Smoke
Member
Bosque County is segregated. Always has been. The Bosque River splits the county in half; the Germans live on the east side, the Norwegians on the west. They rarely co-mingle.
Tye was born on the west side. Not of German decent but allowed to marry into one of the German families. He and his wife bought some land on near her families and they farmed it.
Tye ran a barbershop during the lean times. He was not a “hair stylistâ€, he was a Barber. You wanted a flat top or a burr, that was the place to go.
Some people called Tye gruff. He was definitely something of a curmudgeon; but whether he liked you or not, you knew it. I never liked to call him gruff, plainspoken seemed better. But Tye liked me, even if I came from the “wrong side of the riverâ€.
The Sahara of dry humor, lots of people just didn’t understand Tye. But he always allowed me to hunt with him in the Dove fields, where he was a fixture. He’d take his old Wingmaster and find some sparse shade under a Mesquite tree. Quite often he would limit first and take the rest of his 1 box of shells and go have a cool one at home. Leaving the rest of us youngsters to try to get a couple of more birds.
Old age and sore joints started having their effect on him. His boys bought him a light 20 1100 to try to make it easier on him. I saw him shoot it twice. He bagged his limit both times, but never liked that gun much; he went back to the Wingmaster even though you could tell it wore him out.
The boys bought him a .410 last year, he didn’t get out much. Only hunted twice. On the last hunt I got to visit with him a good bit. As we sat trying to scavenge shade from a poor excuse for a tree, he told me “ My boys have their heart in the right place†referring to the .410, “what they don’t understand is I come out here for the social aspect.†He went on “I’d rather sit with that old Wingmaster and watch you kids and never fire a shot, it’s not about guns and birds. I’ve about got my limit.â€
I now know what he meant. One of his boys will have to shoot the Wingmaster this year.
We’ll miss you Tye.
Tye was born on the west side. Not of German decent but allowed to marry into one of the German families. He and his wife bought some land on near her families and they farmed it.
Tye ran a barbershop during the lean times. He was not a “hair stylistâ€, he was a Barber. You wanted a flat top or a burr, that was the place to go.
Some people called Tye gruff. He was definitely something of a curmudgeon; but whether he liked you or not, you knew it. I never liked to call him gruff, plainspoken seemed better. But Tye liked me, even if I came from the “wrong side of the riverâ€.
The Sahara of dry humor, lots of people just didn’t understand Tye. But he always allowed me to hunt with him in the Dove fields, where he was a fixture. He’d take his old Wingmaster and find some sparse shade under a Mesquite tree. Quite often he would limit first and take the rest of his 1 box of shells and go have a cool one at home. Leaving the rest of us youngsters to try to get a couple of more birds.
Old age and sore joints started having their effect on him. His boys bought him a light 20 1100 to try to make it easier on him. I saw him shoot it twice. He bagged his limit both times, but never liked that gun much; he went back to the Wingmaster even though you could tell it wore him out.
The boys bought him a .410 last year, he didn’t get out much. Only hunted twice. On the last hunt I got to visit with him a good bit. As we sat trying to scavenge shade from a poor excuse for a tree, he told me “ My boys have their heart in the right place†referring to the .410, “what they don’t understand is I come out here for the social aspect.†He went on “I’d rather sit with that old Wingmaster and watch you kids and never fire a shot, it’s not about guns and birds. I’ve about got my limit.â€
I now know what he meant. One of his boys will have to shoot the Wingmaster this year.
We’ll miss you Tye.
